Whitehorse flu clinic closing 2 weeks early, after high number of Yukoners get vaccine
The Yukon government is closing its flu shot clinic at the Whitehorse Convention Centre two weeks ahead of schedule, as demand for the vaccine subsides.
More than 14,000 Yukoners got the flu shot this year, the government said. That's the highest number since 2009 during the H1N1 pandemic, according to Pat Living, director of communications for Yukon Health and Social Services.
"While we saw tremendous uptake at the very beginning of the flu clinic, the number of people showing up has slowed dramatically in the last little while," Living said.
The clinic will end on Friday at 4:30 p.m. local time.
People can still get the flu shot at Whitehorse pharmacies, however. There will also be two final clinics for children under five on Dec. 9 and 16.
Flu shot clinics in rural communities will continue as planned.
This is the first year Yukon has tried having one centralized flu shot clinic in Whitehorse, instead of moving between locations.
Living said government is still working on its COVID-19 vaccine roll-out plan, but she said they wanted to see if a mass, centralized clinic would be a good vaccination method.
After closing the clinic, Living said staff will be redeployed to help with the COVID-19 response, such as contact tracing, follow-up calls or giving other staff a break.
"In anticipation of any kind of COVID[-19] vaccine clinics that may come, we want to make sure that people have a bit of a rest before then," said Living.
Living encouraged people to get their flu shot if they have not yet done so.
